How to Add a New Product or Service to Your Editing Business

Welcome to The Modern Editor Podcast, where we talk about all things editing and what it’s like to run an editorial business in today’s world. I’m your host, Tara Whitaker. Let’s get to it.

Hello everyone. Welcome to today’s episode. So we are going to be talking about how to add a new product or service to your editing business.

So there will most likely come a time in your business, if it hasn’t happened already, when you’re ready to expand your offerings. Maybe you’ve elevated your skill set and you want to add a different type of editing, or maybe you even want to create a product that’ll help your clients even more with their needs.

So we’re going to talk about all the stuff that goes into creating a new product or service. We’re going to talk about how to even decide to offer something new, if now is the right time to do it, and then we’re going to get into the nitty-gritty of creating and launching. All right? So let’s get started.

So first off, let’s start with just the general idea that you have something new that you want to do. I have a few questions to ask yourself right off the bat. So the first one is, Why do you want to add the product or service? Now this might seem like a silly question, but I promise it’s not. And there are a lot of potential answers that are totally valid.

Like I mentioned before, you want to expand your offerings, you have the skill set or you want to learn the skill set, it’s something you enjoy or know that you would enjoy, you see a gap in the market, so on and so forth. But the one answer I want you to look out for in particular is some iteration of “Because other people are doing it, so I should too.”

FOMO is not a good enough reason to launch a new service or a product. Nor is shoulding yourself. A note about shoulding yourself. I don’t mean elevating your skill set because it’s the next step for your business. So, for example, if you’re a proofreader and you want to add copyediting to your services, that’s a natural next step.

There’s nothing wrong with that. But if you’re a proofreader, and the only reason that you want to add copyediting is because you feel like you should, even though you don’t like it, there’s no joy there, there’s no motivation to do it, it’s not going to work. So that’s the type of shoulding I mean. FOMO and shoulding have the potential to be pretty disastrous to your business and/or your mental health, because if you are going to, you know, launch this thing, you’re going to need to invest time, energy, and maybe even finances. And those can all lead to unnecessary stress if they turn out to be the wrong move at the moment. And I don’t know about you, but I think we have enough stress in our lives already. So let’s not add to it.

Okay. So figuring out that core reason of why you want to create the offer or service is going to be crucial before you go any further. So figuring that out is step one. The next question I want you to ask yourself is a bit of a doozy. Do I want to create a new product or service? Or do I want to avoid marketing the services and or products I already provide?

I’m gonna let you sit with that just for a second. I’m not calling anyone out here except myself. Because real talk, sometimes I like to pursue the shiny new thing instead of digging in and marketing the stuff I already have. Why? Because then I can avoid putting in the tough, uncomfortable work. And my brain likes to keep me safe, so it’s all for it.

You know, this isn’t like a brag, it’s just a reality, I have new ideas all the time. Like, practically every day. But that doesn’t mean I should pursue them, either at all or right this second. So what I’ve come to learn is that when I have an idea, I put it on a list. And then I move on because nine times out of ten for me, I’m creating ideas because my brain doesn’t want to focus on the taking action portion of what I already have in front of me.

So that’s for me, not saying that’s for you, but if I start to sit here and think of all these shiny new ideas, and I’m like, “Yes, let’s do it now” for me, that’s a pretty good signal that I am avoiding taking action on the things that I need to take action on and I’m coming up with ideas instead. So if this is somewhat sounding familiar, I want you to get real with yourself and think it through however that looks for you.

If it’s thinking about it, journaling it, maybe you need to talk to a coach or a colleague, just get honest with yourself, because I wish that I had realized this much sooner in my business than I did. I chased a lot of new shiny things that made no sense because I didn’t want to take action on things. So if you can avoid my mistake, I promise you’re going to thank yourself in the long run.

All right. The next question is, is the service or product needed or wanted in the industry? Now for editing services, this question is probably going to be answered with a yes because everyone needs editors and we need all types of editors.

But if we’re thinking about digital or physical products, we’ll need to do some more research. So is there a gap that you could fill that would help your clients? Or can you add a twist or a unique spin to something that’s already out there? The key here is that we can all have amazing ideas, but if no one is actually interested in them, we’re going to be in for some disappointment.

So this is where market research is going to come into play. And it’s simply asking current clients. Asking on social media. Asking your colleagues or your editing community. Searching if the product or service exists already. And, honestly, it might. So, can you take that idea and twist it? What can you do differently? How can you approach it in a different way that only you can approach it from?

And then I always suggest on this podcast, in my coaching, in the club, in life, is to start small. So in this case, it would be creating an MVP, which stands for minimum viable product. And that means the bare minimum of the product that you’re creating or service, so that you can test it out and see if people like it.

That’s going to obviously go more toward digital products or even physical than editing services, but it’s the same concept, right? I don’t want you to go out and, you know, you have this grand idea of building this massive course, and instead of doing some research and asking if people even want the course or not, doing an MVP, which is just a very small version of the course, you go all out and build this incredibly huge course, launch it, and then nobody buys it because it wasn’t actually needed in the industry.

So I highly suggest creating that beta product, if you want to call it that, or test product or service, and trying it out and seeing what the feedback is, if people enjoy it, if people want it and need it, before you go mega all out and build the entire product or service.

Okay. Now the last question is, does the product or service fit into your existing business? Now I’m going to make an assumption here. If you’re listening, you’re most likely an editor. So does the new offering fit into your current editing services? So for example, if you’re a dev editor for nonfiction, is your world-building workbook a good fit? Probably not. Does it fit with your overall goals?

So if you want to be known as the editor that is just the one to pick for debut authors, would it make sense for you to create a course for advanced tactics in something, or marketing strategies? Probably not.

Now, if you’re pivoting your business, that’s a different story. Of course, it’s a pivot, which means it’s probably going to be, you’re moving in a different direction and you’re offering different things. So that’s obviously going to be something that’s fine. You know, it’s not going to fit in with what you have, but if you’re not pivoting, you want to make sure that you have consistent offerings that make sense for someone coming to you, your website, your social media, wherever you are and saying, “Oh, they do this and they provide this. That totally makes sense to me.”

I see this a lot with coaching clients. A lot of the questions I get are like, well, I’m an author and an editor. Do I have separate websites? Do I have separate social media accounts? And that varies depending on the person. I’m always in the boat of keeping it easy. Author and editor are so closely linked that I feel like that’s okay to have on one platform if you choose. If not, totally fine too. But it would be a bit odd if like, say you’re an editor and then you also sell, um, pillows that have nothing to do with editing on your website.

That seems a little odd. Now, if it was a pillow that had like, editing graphics on it or something, sure, that makes sense. But making sure that it is in alignment with your business and the overall goals you have for that business. Okay? Okay.

So you’ve made the decision. You’re going to create a new product or service. Now what? Now comes the fun part. You’re going to get to creating. So back when you were doing that market research, you’re going to take that feedback and you’re going to start creating your offer in conjunction with the knowledge and the skills that you have around that product or service. This is obviously going to depend on what you’re creating, but here are a few things just to keep in mind.

So if you’re creating a new editing service, you’re going to want to make sure you have specific criteria for what’s included in the service and boundaries of what the editing service will not include. Sometimes listing what is not included can be even more beneficial than what is. Because I’ve found that a lot of clients understand what’s not included more than what is, especially when it comes to copyediting and line editing and so on and so forth.

Side note, all of the criteria that you’re including for the editing service as well as the boundaries are all going to go into your editing contract as well. And if you need verbiage or are looking for an editing contract template, you can head to TaraWhitaker.com/Contract to grab a copy of mine.

And so you have all of that ready to go when it comes to adding it to your contract. Outside of the contract, you’re going to want that on your website and other platforms where you’re talking about the service.

Now in terms of products, you’re going to need to figure out the format. So is it a workbook? Is it a Google Doc? Is it a Word doc? Is it a PDF? Is it a course? Is it a webinar? All the different types of formats. Are you going to have videos? Is it going to be text based? Is it going to be voice based? How are you going to deliver it? Is it a physical product that needs to actually be mailed? Is it a digital product? Does it need to be emailed? Does it need to be housed in a platform that you give people access to?

And with all of that stuff, you have to figure out if you have the tech to support it or know what tech you need to support it. I will say not to like, scare anybody off, but you can make this as easy or as complicated as you want.

I always suggest keeping it very simple. It does not need to be fancy when you’re starting out. You can always upgrade, you can always add new features, but don’t let the tech get in the way of actually launching the thing, because you can go down massive rabbit holes. Trust me, I know.

The next thing is the pricing, and we know how fun that is. Editing services have a little bit more of, I don’t want to say strict, but there are, you know, and there’s not really industry standards, right? But there is sort of an idea of what different editing services cost. So that should be semi-straightforward. But then when it comes to products and services, I mean, it’s kind of anything goes, right?

So it’s doing, again, more of that market research. If there are products out there that already exist, what are they charging? Are you charging full price? Are you offering payment plans? Are you doing PayPal or credit card or all of those other different payment types? What are you providing to your potential clients in terms of pricing and being able to pay for your product or service?

Now, if you haven’t already, you’re going to set a launch date. This is a little less scientific. I’m certainly not going to pretend to be an expert here on timing. Other than, I will say, timing is important here. And depending on the product or service and the price point, overall, December can be a pretty tough launch period.A lot of people are checked out.

A lot of people have spent their money for the year. We’re just kind of, you know, crossing the finish line into the new year. There’s a lot of holidays in December. I’ve seen people launch in December, and I’m sure people have had successful launches in December.

Personally, I wouldn’t. It’s up to you, but I wouldn’t suggest it as my first option. January can be good because we all know the New Year’s resolutions, the fresh start vibe. People have new budgets, you know, it’s a new tax year, at least in the US with how that works. If you want that same fresh vibe, you know, August, September, when a lot of kids go back to school, at least in the US, you can kind of take advantage of that feeling.

But the biggest thing I would say is just to avoid major holidays that your audience celebrates across the board, if possible. And then otherwise, it’s really just picking a time that works best for you, that gives you ample time. To create the product or service, create all of the things you need to, that we’re going to talk about here in a second, secure collaborations.

If that’s a thing like, don’t pick a launch date and have you scrambling because guess what, you’re the boss and you get to pick that launch date. So pick something that’s going to work for you.

And now it’s promotion time. Which I know can be the best part of it, right? But you have to create your messaging first and foremost. Again, you’re going to take that market research, and you’re going to take the criteria that you are listing out that could go into the contract if it’s an editing service. You’re going to include what is this? What does the product or service include? Who is it for? Who benefits from it? What problem does it solve? Why should they buy it from you? Why are you uniquely qualified to offer this type of product or service? You know, what is your background and your experience and your knowledge? Give them the scoop on what the product or service is.

Most likely, you’re going to need graphics of some sort. Obviously, if it’s a physical product, you’ll want pictures of the actual physical product. If it’s a digital product or an editing service, most likely you’ll have graphics that you create with, you know, images and text and such. Canva is a great resource. I would just make sure to read their terms because using images for paid products is a little different. So make sure you keep an eye on that. You don’t want to be using an image to promote a paid product and then get dinged for using it improperly. So keep an eye on that. But then you’re going to take all of that stuff and you’re going to put it on your website. If you have an email newsletter, you’re going to figure out how you’re going to launch it.

Are you going to have a series of emails when you launch it? Are you going to just say it once, which I don’t suggest because all of us forget. Maybe you launch it and then you have a footer or a section that you always includ on all of your emails. It just becomes part of your template, you know, figuring out how that’s going to look.

Of course, social media, if you use it. And you can use social media and your newsletter and website to start talking about the product or service before you launch it, you know, you’re going to generate the buzz, generate the excitement, have potential clients and customers be able to read about what it entails and what to look forward to, and you can always offer something special too your newsletter subscribers or your social media followers or previous clients. You know, you can do a discount, you can do early access, you can do bonuses. For example, the Freelance Editors Club, they get first dibs on all my new offerings and a 25 percent discount. So if you want to do something like that, plan that out.

You can always enlist other editors and colleagues to help you share the news and to generate the buzz. You know, everybody has different audiences, and being able to collaborate with others in your sphere can only be beneficial. If you’re going to use podcasts as a way to get the word out, most likely, and making assumptions here, the editing service or product you’re launching is going to be geared toward writers or people who write content of some sort.

So who has a podcast with an audience of those writers or potential clients? You’ll want to create a pitch plan beforehand. Ideally, you’d love to have the episodes air around your launch date, but that’s obviously up to the podcast host and can, you know, it’s not necessarily required. Talking about it at all is great, but if you can get it around launch date, that would be great.

The one thing I will say here is follow the directions of pitching the podcast that the podcast puts out there. If they don’t have parameters on how to pitch themm .ost likely it’s because they’re not accepting outside pitches. So take that into consideration.

And then in episode 14 of the podcast, I went into ways to market outside of social media. So you can, you know, get ideas for that around the launch and for after the launch. Snd don’t forget to collect testimonials throughout all of this and add those to your website and your social media platforms and everywhere you talk about it with permission, of course. You can start getting testimonials as soon as you launch that beta product or service or that MVP we talked about.

Collect those as you get them and ask for them as people buy. It’s easier to ask immediately than it is to wait around and, you know, hem an haw and not want to do it and then go back to the client. Just do it as soon as you can. It’s better, I promise.

And then, through the next couple of months at least, you’re going to analyze how it’s going. Have you landed new clients or customers? If so, have they been happy? Have they provided any feedback on how to improve the product or service? Can you add or tweak anything based on new information that might have come available since launch? And you probably want to do this sporadically to keep an eye on how the product or service is doing.

You can come up with the timeframe. I don’t know if there’s any like, specific suggestion, but mine would be quarterly. I feel like that’s enough time to really get some good data and then be able to analyze it and figure out what’s going on. Notice any trends that are going on. And keeping track of how it’s doing, because what we talked about before was making sure that the product or service is needed.

You’re not going to know if it’s truly needed, or if you’re doing the right kind of promotion, unless you go back and check, right? You can’t just launch something and then be like, all right, hands clean. I’m done. We’re done. It’s an ongoing thing, right? So keeping that in mind and adding it to your quarterly, we’ll say, business review is going to be super helpful to figure out what, if any, tweaks you need to make to the product or service.

So there we have it. Now you have an outline of how to create a new product or service in your editing business. And I know launching can be time-consuming, but If the new product or service is in alignment with your business and your goals, and it can help people, and you know, it can help people having an outline of what to do can help alleviate some of that stress and make the process much, much smoother.

So if you have an idea for a new product or service, you’re not sure if you should move forward with it, if it’s a good idea, I would love to chat with you. Like I said, I have ideas all the time. Ideas are fun. Ideas are fun to talk about. I would love to talk through the process with you and determine if it’s something that’s a viable option for your business either now or in the future.

You can always email the idea or the offer to chat at Hello@TaraWhitaker.com or I have a free 15-minute call that you can just grab a slot on my calendar whenever works for you at TaraWhitaker.com.Chat. And we can talk about all the ideas and all the fun things, including taking the action.

So until next time, keep learning, keep growing, and know that you’ve got this.

Thank you so much for tuning in to today’s episode. If you enjoy The Modern Editor podcast, I would be so grateful if you left us a review over on iTunes. And as always, you can head to TaraWhitaker.com to connect with me and stay in touch. We’ll chat again soon.